The Delaware Botanic Gardens board of directors has elected two new members, Ruth Rogers Clausen and Janet Meenehan Point. The additions bring to ten the number of board members, who are working to open the garden along Pepper Creek in Dagsboro. An Advisory Council adds a dozen professionals to the project’s expertise.

Ruth Clausen is a garden writer who was trained in horticulture at Studley College in England and Kent State University in Ohio. In the 1970s she headed the School of Professional Horticulture at the New York Botanical Garden. Her book Perennials for American Gardens, coauthored with Nicolas Ekstrom, was awarded the Quill and Trowel Award of the Garden Writers of America Association in 1990. Other books of hers include Dreamscaping (2001), 50 Beautiful Deer-Resistant Plants (2011), and Essential Perennials (2015), with Thomas Christopher. She serves on numerous garden committees and lives in Easton, Maryland.

“I look forward to lending my horticulture knowledge to this very special project,” said Clausen. “I have worked with the garden’s director of horticulture, Gregg Tepper, over the years and am thrilled to be supporting him and all the others who are developing the Delaware Botanic Gardens.”

Janet Point is an experienced communications and investor relations executive with an extensive financial background and capital markets experience. Most recently she served as an executive vice president for InterDigital, Inc., of Wilmington. Her previous positions were with Corporate Office Properties Trust, Advanta Corporation, Fannie Mae, and Sallie Mae. She is also a member of the Sussex Gardeners and an avid gardener. She resides in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

“My love of gardens and native plants grew in my childhood while a member of a junior garden club in Arlington, Virginia,” noted Point. “After moving to Delaware, I was eager to reignite that passion. Little did I realize that my skills in managing relationships with the investment community would be an asset in building a strong volunteer organization like the Delaware Botanic Gardens.”

As Susan Ryan, president of the Delaware Botanic Gardens, noted, “These individuals bring both a depth of gardening expertise and important managerial and marketing know-how.”

The Delaware Botanic Gardens is a ten-year, multiphase plan to bring a sense of place to Delmarva with a major public garden that reflects southern Delaware’s unique coastal plain. Its mission is to create inspirational, educational, and sustainable gardens in Delaware for the benefit and enjoyment of residents and visitors alike. The project has already attracted luminaries such as the Dutch garden designer Piet Oudolf, the award-winning architecture firm Lake/Flato, and Delaware’s own Rodney Robinson, a landscape architect who has created and restored gardens throughout the state.

Further information on the Delaware Botanic Gardens, including membership and donations, can be found at www.delawaregardens.org and at www.facebook.com/delawaregardens.

Delaware Botanic Gardens

The Delaware Botanic Gardens is a ten-year, multiphase plan to bring a sense of place to Delmarva with a major public garden that reflects southern Delaware’s unique coastal plain. Its mission is to create inspirational, educational, and sustainable gardens in Delaware for the benefit and enjoyment of residents and visitors alike. The gardens will be located on 37 acres along Piney Neck Road in Sussex County. The parcel has an ideal mix of farmland, woodland, and more than 1,000 feet of tidal waterfront on Pepper Creek.

DELAWARE BOTANIC GARDENS

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Stages of the garden's creation during the multiyear effort to Open the Garden Gates:

Groundbreaking

Build the basics

Begin programs

Enlarge the endowment

Purchase initial plantings and use donated plant materials

Install temporary modular buildings

Hire the initial staff

Grand opening

Develop individual gardens

Add special features

Finish plantings

Build the staff

Final stages

Complete large permanent structures

Fully staff all operations

This botanic garden will become a special place that will enhance the quality of life here in Sussex County. Our residents and our visitors will treasure this botanic garden, which will also serve to educate all to understand the value of conservation. In keeping with the overall mission of the SCLT, the Botanic Gardens at Pepper Creek will enable us to pass on the best of our values to the next generation.